July 25th - We Had a Dog For a Day

She was wandering the street most of the day but she was a little skittish when Gerry approached her and tried to pet her.  When I came home, she came right up to me and let me pet her and followed me into the yard.  I closed the gate so she wouldn't get hit by the passing cars.  She wandered the yard for a couple hours but she never tried to get out.

She spent the night on the patio just outside the trailer door.  She didn't cry; she didn't bark!  Early Tuesday morning, Gerry posted "Found Dog" signs around the neighborhood.  Only a couple hours passed before her "dad" called to claim her.  She was so sweet, with a wonderful disposition, that we had decided to keep her if her owner was not found.  Fortunately, she lives around the corner and her dad said we can visit her anytime.

July 22nd - Lots of Progress on the Shop Today

6" x 12" beam was manually hoisted into position at the peak of the roof.

Heavy!

No safety ties!

No fear!

The south wall of the shop (not facing the house):

North wall facing the house:

The loft in the southeast corner:

The bathroom is under the loft:

View from the southwest corner:

We're up in the loft.  There will be a skylight in the space over our heads:

Raymond came over to check on our progress:

So did Veronica, Vincent & Paula:

Veronica in the bathroom:

July 21st - Framing Starts on the Shop

The shop slab at 7:00 AM

8:00 AM

The walls were assembled on the ground and then tilted up.

 

Today, they completed the north and south exterior walls and the bathroom.

 

They also started sheeting the north wall with plywood.

July 19th - Lumber drop for the shop!

It's dark in the alley and my phone does not have a flash, but this is a picture of the lumber dropped off today for the shop.

July 12th: I Smell Wood...Gerry Smells Money!!

The framing process started today! All the floor joists were laid for the house in one day.

Master suite:

The kitchen and dining room:

Guess who's happy with today's progress??

July 4th Weekend - Final Preparations for Framing

We spent all three HOT days preparing for the framing to start in a couple weeks.

Gerry decided to remove several of the original floor joists because they were twisted.  He also added a couple new footings because a pair of the original footings were too close to the new sewer ditch.  Better to add them now then to have issues later.

Before:

After:

Gerry & Kenny demo'd the remaining walls on the house-side of the garage and the hallway.

I had to empty the linen closet and bathroom storage closet in the hallway outside the bathroom.

                                            Show pic of hallway w/o closets                    

Final placement of the main sewer which shifted as the surrounding sand was washed down the line during all the rain a few months ago.  Just make sure it slopes in the right direction!

Dining Room Window Mock-up

Which grid pattern looks better?  We constructed the dining room pop-out windows from cardboard and used masking tape to simulate the grid patterns under consideration.

4x3 (window pane) with no grids in transom:

 

4x3 with grids in transom:

Or, one less vertical grid...

3x3 with no grids in transom:

3x3 with grids in transom: